Crystal Paine’s publicist generously sent me 2 copies of The Money Saving Mom’s Budget book to give away!

If you’re not familiar with Crystal Paine, check out her blog MoneySavingMom.com.

You can also read my review of her book 7 Lessons from the Money Saving Mom’s Budget.

It’s a great book for those who want to start a budget, manage time better, declutter more efficiently, and be more frugal.

Are you ready for another giveaway? Here we go!

I’ve updated the ways to enter from when I originally posted to make it simpler.

4 Ways to Enter:

1. Leave a comment about how this book would help you. Make sure to leave your email in the email* field.

2. “Like” Living Richly on a Budget on Facebook and leave a comment below with your full name so I can find you on Facebook.

3. If you already “Like” us on Facebook (Thank You!), then just share this giveaway on Facebook http://www.livingrichlyonabudget.com/giveaway-the-money-saving-moms-budget-book and leave a comment below with your full name so I can find you on Facebook.

4. Follow me on Twitter and leave a comment with your Twitter username.

Please be sure to leave your email in the email* field so that I can contact you if you win!

Giveaway ends February 9, 2012 at midnight PST. Good luck!

We will use random.org to pick 2 winners. Must live in the U.S. and be 18 years or older to enter.

Last week, I was sent a copy of The Money Saving Mom’s Budget by Crystal Paine of MoneySavingMom.com.

I was super excited to read it since I’m a big fan of her blog.

First, let’s touch on her background.

In the early years of her marriage, she and her husband survived on an income of $650 – $900 a month and without any debt, all the while her husband was in law school.

She stays at home and homeschools their 3 children and they managed to save up enough to buy their first house, in cash!

Crystal finds the best deals, menu plans, bakes extraordinary goodies from scratch, sets out goals and reaches them, and runs this amazing blog!

How can you reach your financial goals too?

7 Lessons from The Money Saving Mom’s Budget:

1. Organize your time better.

Moms around the world want to know how to get more things done in less time! We’re so overwhelmed that some days we wonder if we’ve gotten anything done. And we say yes to everything, don’t we?

One of the keys is to watch less TV and saying no to things and not feeling bad about it. I don’t have a TV so that helps a lot! I don’t waste my days mindlessly watching shows anymore.

Crystal also talks about a time budget and how to use it strategically.

2. De-clutter.

If you’re in a financial mess, chances are you are surrounded by clutter at home. Disorganization and debt go hand in hand.

If you don’t know where your bills are, you won’t pay them on time and then you’ll have to pay hefty late fees!

Since you’ve paid late fees, you’ve taken money away from something else so you end up overspending in other areas.

Crystal has a smart system to declutter without getting distracted. That’s the hard part about clearing things out.

We go through things then get stuck when we see something else that needs to get done. And she has a solution for this!

3. Set goals and reach them.

How many of you have goals you want to reach but have no idea when you’ll ever reach them? Crystal shows how to get started in her book.

There’s really no excuse not to reach your goals after you learn how to do it. Crystal does it and she homeschools 3 kids and runs a successful blog.

You have to have the right mind set, write your goals down, then break them up into doable chunks. I love this part of the book because she details how to succeed at reaching your goals, which is the most challenging part.

And you know that Crystal practices what she preaches because she posts her weekly goals on her blog and crosses out the ones she has completed.

4. Create a bare bones budget, then a full-fledged one.

Creating a budget for the first time may be overwhelming. That’s why Crystal recommends starting with a bare bones budget that includes the basic monthly expenses. Then move onto a more detailed one. There are also budget worksheets in the back of the book.

5. Learn multiple ways to save money.

She and her husband used to live on one small salary. They somehow made ends meet each month. From this experience, she has come up with creative ways to save money and ways to earn extra income.

6. Use cash.

This is probably the biggest lesson I’ve learned from The Money Saving Mom’s Budget. When I buy groceries, I use my card and sometimes I have no idea how much I’ve spent until I look at my Mint.com app on my iPhone. Sticking to a budget is harder if you can’t see the money leave your hands.

I’m definitely going to try using cash again for groceries. It might take more time to go to the ATM before buying groceries but seeing a lower credit card bill next month will be a motivator.

7. Choose contentment.

In order to move forward in life and get out of a bad situation, you really have to develop an attitude of gratitude, no matter how dire your circumstances are. And no matter what, there’s always something to be thankful for.

When I finished the book I was delighted to find some extras in the back – worksheets for goal setting, time budget, budgeting, and price book.

And all of the proceeds of the book go to the charity, Compassion International, a Christian child advocacy ministry.

The Money Saving Mom’s Budget is available on Amazon.com, Barnes and Nobles, and Books-a-Million.

Disclaimer: I was provided a copy of this book to review. This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for supporting my site.

I’m always looking to save money, even if I’ve just received my paycheck and can ‘officially’ splurge on something.

The older I get, the more interested I am in saving money for practical expenses, like contributing to my retirement savings account or investing in a quality piece of furniture.

Not so long ago, my interests in purchasing clothes and shoes became about comfort and durability instead of what was cute and probably only good for wearing to a dance club.

I find that I approach saving money around the home as a bit of a challenge – where can I cut back without negatively affecting my frugal-but-fun lifestyle?

The more research I do, the more ways I find to save money around my home.

Here are some tried-and-true suggestions I stick by:

1. Be your own repairperson

You don’t have to be professionally licensed to do small repairs in your home. Pull together a set of basic tools including a hammer, screwdriver, pliers, torque wrench and flashlight. Purchase or borrow a book about basic home repair (or search online for a DIY video), and see what you can do without a professional’s help.

2. Green clean

Making your own cleansers is a great way to save money that you would otherwise spend on store-bought products. You will also keep your indoor air less polluted and avoid releasing harmful chemicals into the environment. Ingredients like baking soda and vinegar are low-cost, widely-available, and can be used to clean even if children are in the room.

3. Adjust the thermostat

My mom always told me to put on a sweater if I was cold in the winter. Now that I pay the bills, I understand what she was talking about. Keeping the thermostat at 68 degrees or lower in the winter and 75 degrees or higher in the summer will keep your heating and cooling systems from running endlessly. You can always keep a spray bottle of water in the fridge and spritz yourself to cool down if you get too hot.

4. Cook

It may seem like a simple tip, but the cost of takeout adds up quickly. Cooking at home will save you money and give you a chance to experiment with recipes that you might have long ago clipped from a magazine. Be sure to hang on to “old” food, such as overripe bananas. They are perfect for making banana bread, just as leftover veggies can be made into a delicious soup you can eat all week long.

5. Ditch cable

I never thought I could live without cable until I gave it a try. To my surprise, I don’t miss it at all. I stay entertained with an $8/month subscription to Netflix.

Save even more money, and get DVDs from the public library. There may be a bit of a wait for new releases, but you can supplement with books from the same location. (Fanny’s note: Check out how to watch TV free.)

Simple, right? The tips don’t stop here either. Take a look around, and decide what money-saving tips you can employ. You might just be surprised at how quickly your pennies add up.

Maire blogs on behalf of Sears and other quality products she uses. She enjoys spending her free time hunting for bargains at thrift stores and is well known among her friends for being a “coupon queen.”

Photo Credit: sidewalk flying

Everyone wants to know when groceries go on sale. What about clothes?

There seems to be a sale every week or month.

When are the end of season clearance sales?

When are the big sales from major department stores?

I once read a magazine article detailing this many years ago.

It was so helpful to have on hand, that’s why I put this list together using Bankrate and my own research.

January

Biggest clearance sales on winter clothes – coats, scarves, gloves, hats, boots, holiday dresses

Victoria’s Secret Semi-Annual Sale

February

Valentine’s Day, President’s Day sales

Jewelry, lingerie

March

Gap Friends and Family

Windbreakers and raincoats

Spring clothes

April

Easter

Macy’s Friends and Family Discount

May

Memorial Day, Mother’s Day sales

Summer handbags and totes

Pre-season sales on swimsuits and sandals

Nordstrom Half Yearly Sale for Women and Kids

June

Father’s Day, Graduation sales

Clearance sales on summer clothes

Victoria’s Secret Semi-Annual Sale

Nordstrom Half Yearly Sale for Men

July

4th of July sales

Clearance sales on summer dresses, suits, shoes, tees, tanks, shorts, flip flops, and swimwear

Nordstrom Anniversary Sale

August

Pre-season sales on fall fashions, Back to School sales

Swimsuit and other summer clothes sales

September

Labor Day and Back to School sales

October

First markdowns on winter clothes

November

Gap Friends and Family

Fall clothing sales, winter clothes markdowns

Pre-holiday specials

Friends and Family discounts

Black Friday sales

Nordstrom Half Yearly Sale for Women and Kids

December

Perfume, ties, sweaters, jewelry, and other popular gift items

Friends and Family discounts

Winter Clearance

Nordstrom Half Yearly Sale for Men

Is there anything else that should be added?

Photo Credit: nffcnnr

Everyone is looking to cut their food budget these days. One real way to slash your grocery budget is to create a weekly menu plan.

And while you’ve probably heard this before, have you actually done it?

We have to eat every day. So whether you like it or not, you’re probably menu planning already, but at the last minute, which is stressful.

That’s why you should start a weekly menu plan. Then you can look ahead, plan for busy days, and have something nutritious for your family to eat.

How do you create a menu plan and how often? What if you don’t have time? If you have time to coupon, you have time to do menu planning!

Benefits of Menu Planning:

Save money. When you have a plan you’ll be less likely to do takeout or grab fast food. And you’ll cut down on the multiple trips to the grocery store.

Fewer trips to the grocery store mean there will be less chances for impulse buying, thereby saving you money. Cooking from fresh ingredients is more economical too.

Save time. When your meals are planned out, you won’t have to waste time thinking of what’s for dinner.

Waste less food. Because you’ll buy only what you need, you won’t have wasted food.

Eat healthier. When you plan to cook your meals, you”re planing to eat healthier as well. You know what’s in your food when you cook it yourself, from fresh, whole ingredients.

When you go out to a restaurant, you don’t really know what’s in your food, what additives they used, how many times they’ve reused the cooking oil, if the food was cross contaminated, or even if they used expired ingredients.

And when you eat healthier, you will be healthier and get sick less often.

Clever ways to start menu planning:

1. Use technology tools

Simple Mom uses Google calendar to record her menus and bookmarks recipes using del.icio.us. She plans 2 weeks at a time, then repeats the 2 weeks for the remainder of the month. She plans her meals, then her grocery list.

2. Shop, then plan meals

Almost Frugal does the opposite. She does her grocery shopping first, depending on what’s on sale, then creates her menus.

3. Subscribe to a meal planning service

E-mealz  is a menu planning service endorsed by Dave Ramsey. You choose a favorite store like Kroger, Ralph’s, even Whole Foods, and you’ll receive a weekly shopping list and recipes to go along with it.

What’s brilliant about the plan is that the shopping list and meals are based on what’s on sale that week. And there are menu plan options for those who are on gluten-free, low-fat, low-carb, or vegetarian diets. E-mealz costs about $5 – $7/mo.

4. Get your kids involved.

Kids are more likely to eat dinner when they feel included in the meal planning process. Have them look for recipes of things they want to try. Then enlist their help with cooking prep or even setting up the table.

5. Follow a magazine.

If you’re looking for a free option for menu planning and are open to eating new things, check out a magazine. Woman’s Day features a monthly menu of easy dinner ideas. They also provide a shopping list to go along with each month.

6. Watch Rachael Ray’s “Week in a Day”.

Food Network favorite and talk show host, Rachael Ray, has a show on Cooking Channel about how to cook a week’s worth of dinners, all in one day! Check out her 20 make ahead meals.

7. Follow a pre-established theme. 

If you like routines, this is for you. Make it easy for yourself. Decide on a theme per day and follow it.

It makes planning dinner a lot simpler. Here is a sample theme from Simple Mom.

Mondays – pasta
Tuesdays – soup, salad, and/or sandwiches
Wednesdays – stir fry
Thursdays – crock pot
Fridays – pizza
Saturdays – something new
Sundays – something easy

Check out these menu planning sheets from Money Saving Mom.

How do you do menu planning? What are you tips?

Photo Credit: cooking channel

Featured in Carnival of Personal Finance #346

Are you ready to ditch your cable bill? Do you want things back the way they were before the digital transition, meaning you would be happy with just the free, over-the-air, broadcast channels?

There is a way, depending on how close you live to broadcast towers, to watch over-the-air TV for free. The number of channels you get depend on where you live.

Some people can get all of the local broadcast channels and more. While others are limited to a few off channels, channels you’ve probably never heard of.

I read about the Mohu Leaf antenna on Lazy Man and Money. It’s an HDTV antenna that helps you pick up over-the-air channels.

Before we go any further, check DTV.org to see what channels you might receive.

The channels highlighted in green are the ones you will most likely get. The ones in yellow are maybe’s. And the ones in orange brown are the channels that have the weakest signal. The ones in red are the channels you can’t receive.

What you need to get over-the-air TV:

• HD ready TV
• Digital converter box
• HDTV compatible antenna with a UHF loop or Mohu Leaf

If you have a TV with a built in HDTV tuner (newer TVs), then you won’t need the digital converter box.

Be sure to double check your connections to make sure that everything is compatible.

You can find a basic HDTV compatible antenna for about $10 while the Mohu Leaf is $35-$40. The difference is the Mohu Leaf is paper thin. It’s literally a laminated piece of cardboard with a S-video cable attached to it. One side is white while the other is black to match your decor.

Pros of the HDTV compatible antenna is that it’s cheaper but bulky. The Mohu Leaf is sleeker, takes less space, and can be taped to a wall or window. They both worked the same for me, getting more or less the same quality signal.

HDTV compatible antenna with UHF loop. Below it is the digital converter box.

Mohu Leaf

Instructions:

1. Connect converter box to TV.
2. Attach HDTV compatible antenna or Mohu Leaf to digital converter box.
3. Position antenna.
4. Set the TV to air mode.
5. Select channel 3.
6. Scan channels through the digital converter box. When it’s done, it will let you know how many channels you got.
7. If you’re not getting a lot of channels, reposition the antenna and re-scan the channels.

I have tried both the HDTV compatible antenna and the Mohu Leaf. I got similar results with both. Although I did like the Mohu Leaf better because it takes up less space.

I must admit, the anticipation of seeing what channels we could get was an unexpected thrill. I felt like I was on Wheel of Fortune, spinning the wheel to see how much money I could win. When we did the channel scan, I would chant “big money, big money”.

After the scan, we got 6 channels and 2 radio stations but none of the major broadcast stations. I guess we live too far from the towers. We did get this interesting cooking channel that features Ming Tsai’s show.

My dad who lives in within 5 – 10 miles from the broadcast stations, gets all of the broadcast channels plus some Chinese shows, which he primarily watches.

He’s actually the one who inspired me to try this and set me up with all of the equipment – HD ready TV, digital converter box, and HDTV compatible antenna.

Sadly, the converter box died so we’re back to just watching shows on Netflix and the Internet. I thought I would miss cable because I was such a TV junkie. But I’m ok, surprisingly.

Here’s another site with more info on what kind of antenna you need, depending on your location.

Do you watch TV free? How do you do it?

Just got this email today from Amazon Mom.

If you’re already an Amazon Mom member then you would have received it too.

There are major changes to the program that we all love.

Sadly, it was good while it lasted.

There won’t be a 30% discount anymore or free benefits up to a year.

And there’s a waiting list for new members.

Check this out:

• Starting on January 24, 2012, the maximum discount available on diapers and wipes subscriptions will be 20%. This includes a 5% Subscribe & Save discount plus an additional 15% exclusively for Amazon Mom members who are earning free shipping benefits or have an active Amazon Prime membership. (The program originally offered 30% discount on diapers and wipe subscriptions.)
• Customers who join Amazon Mom in 2012 will get three months of FREE Two-Day Shipping benefits.  (Original members could receive up to a year of Amazon Prime benefits.)

To continue receiving the Amazon Mom diapers and wipes discount once your free shipping benefits end, you can join Amazon Prime for $79/year. As a Prime member you’ll receive:

• 20% off diapers and wipes subscriptions with Amazon Mom and Subscribe & Save.
• FREE Two-Day Shipping on millions of items.
• Unlimited instant streaming of thousands of videos with a wide range of content for the whole family, including Sesame Street and Phineas and Ferb.
• A Kindle book to borrow for free each month from the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library.
• Membership sharing benefits: invite up to four household members to share your shipping benefits for free.

If you’re already an Amazon Mom member, then you will continue receiving free 2-day shipping until your year is up, as long as you buy the minimum amount that was required to extend your membership up to a year.

Waiting List

I also saw a waiting list for Amazon Mom. Wow! I don’t know if they will open it up on Jan. 24 or not. We’ll see.

I love Amazon Mom and the free 2-day shipping. I might join Amazon Prime when my year is up. I was always curious about Amazon Prime, but now I see how much I use it.

I seem to buy things from Amazon every month and I love the convenience.

What do you think?

I’ve been pretty obsessed with clean drinking water lately since I’ve gotten sick. We moved to a new city a few months ago and didn’t realize that the water quality was bad.

Back where we used to live, the water was great. We just connected the water filter to the faucet and drank from that.

When we moved here, we did the same thing, attached a 10 stage water filter to our faucet and drank from it. We haven’t bought bottled water for awhile.

Recently, I started getting sick and noticed my daughter was having weird rashes. The only thing in common was that we both drank the tap water through our water filter.

I was curious so I bought a TDS water tester from Amazon. TDS stands for Total Dissolved Solids and measures the amount of total dissolved solids in ppm (parts per million).

It won’t tell you what’s exactly in your water but will let you know if there are more things in the water.

Things I’ve tested:

Distilled Water: 0-2 ppm

Tap: 221 ppm

Tap with Filter: 204

Bottled Spring Water: 57 ppm

Reverse Osmosis Water Filter: 36 ppm

As an experiment, my husband brought the tester to work and several co-workers brought in water samples from their homes to test. It was interesting to see the results. Someone had a reading of over 300 ppm.

After that, we’ve only been buying bottled water. And it gets expensive.

Water choices

Bottled water from grocery store: $1/gallon plus $ .10 CRV

Bottle your own water at grocery store or water filtration store: $ .39 – $ .60/gallon

Bottled water delivery: $30 – $50/mo.

Install reverse osmosis filter: $300+ one time and install yourself

Right now, we’re just buying bottled water. But it’s a pain to return the empty bottles for recycling.

We might go to a place where we can refill the water ourselves. But lugging the bottles back and forth is a challenge especially with a baby and stairs.

I would love to install a reverse osmosis water filter system under the sink. But since we’re just renting, it might not be worth it.

So is bottled water worth buying? I would now say, it depends on where you live and how safe your tap water is.

What do you do for drinking water?

 Featured in the Festival of Frugality #319.

2011 has been a great year for Living Richly on a Budget.

I just wanted to say “Thank You” for your support.

I couldn’t have done it without you!

Because of you, we now have over 1,000 likes on Facebook!

Come say hi on Facebook and send your suggestions or comments there.

May 2012 be a great year for you!

Have a safe and Happy New Year!

1. Grocery Sale Cycles – When Do Things Go on Sale? 

This is a month by month list of what goes on sale in grocery stores. Thank you to the Pinterest community for sharing this and making this the top post for 2011!

2. 25 Extreme Couponing Tips

This is the post formerly known as “12 Extreme Couponing Tips.” I have recently updated it to make it 25 tips. Enjoy!

3. Free Birthday Stuff

Take advantage of your birthday, by getting free stuff. Enough said.

4. Free 2011 Hello Kitty Calendar

Sanrio has a free printable calendar almost every year. They made it unavailable a few months into the year so I asked them if I could have a copy to share with you. And they said yes! I’ll look out to see if they come out with a 2012 calendar.

5. Extreme Couponing Fraud

This was a controversial post about the dark side of couponing, that some people cheat the system.

6. 7 Extreme Couponer Blogs to Follow

These are extreme couponers that I like. By following them, I never miss a deal.

7. 7 Coupon Clipping Services

Since the EXtreme Couponing show, coupon clipping services have become popular. Which one is right for you? Check out this review.

8. New Tax Laws for 2011

With the changing tax laws, everyone wanted to know how they were affected.

9. Why You Need a Grocery Price Book

This post details the process of creating a grocery price book to help you know what’s really a good deal.

10. 10 Smart Tips on How to Make Your Money Work for You

This post was the only guest post to make it on this list. It was written by Charles of Credit Donkey.

Photo Credit: babasteve

Have you ever contemplated whether or not to go to the ER? Could you wait it out until the doctor’s office opens in the morning or do you have to go in just to be safe?

Well, over the past 2 weeks, I have contemplated these questions. Having gone through the ER experience several times, I would rather not go in if I didn’t have to.

We have been to the ER before for 7 hours. Most of that time was spent waiting. And if you have kids, it’s not an ideal place to bring them in the middle of the night.

Also, the cost of going to the ER is something to consider. For PPO’s, some of the ER doctors are Out-of-Network. And you have no idea until you get the bill.

So if your health issue isn’t something that obviously needs medical attention and the doctor’s office is already closed, what do you do?

Here are some resources to help you determine whether or not you should go to the ER.

Call the 24/7 nurse line.

Some health insurance carriers like Anthem Blue Cross offer a free 24/7 nurse line to their members, to call for questions about health issues. They can’t give you medical advice, but they can help you determine if your condition warrants a visit to the ER or what your next step should be.

Call the after hours on-call doctor.

Many doctor’s offices, especially ones with multiple doctors, have a doctor who is on-call during closing hours to offer medical advice. Usually, you can contact this on-call doctor by calling your doctor’s office and waiting until the end of the answering machine message.

Our pediatrician office offers this but at a cost of $20. I find this service helpful, especially for questions about kids. Some offices offer this service for free.

Check to see if your doctor’s office offers this.

If it’s really bad, just go in.

If you don’t have these resources available and you’re not getting better, by all means, go to the ER! It’s better to be safe than sorry, especially in circumstances where it’s difficult to breathe, you’re in a lot of pain, you can’t stop the bleeding, or something’s just not right. Trust your instincts and be safe!

Photo Credit: Do Not Lick